What the Apollo Astronauts really saw on the moon…
Haha
Using the Revell 1/8 scale Apollo Astronaut kit as a base. Exanpind it out a bit, and adjusting one of the hands (my apologies for the hand amputation, I did glue it back, sorry for the lack of anesthesia…)
This is a good idea of what I’m going for
Original redit link (https://www.reddit.com/r/photoshop/comments/qymsja/monolith_a_composition_i_created_with_inspiration/)
basic mock up
Very nice, such an iconic scene.
That’s great! What did you use for the monolith?
Gary
Yeah that’s so cool!!!
Someone made a garage kit twenty or so years ago of the monolith with an astronaut in a 2001 EV suit touching one side and a man-ape touching the other. Always thought it was amazing but at the time money was a bit tight so I didn’t buy one.
Lol, that’s great!
Excellent concept from an iconic see. Keeping my eye on this one to watch it develop.
Very cool!
I built up the monolith by using some leftover styrofoam (which next time I do this I’m getting the purple foam core stuff, the white stuff is a mess to work with), measured out the correct dimensions on plastic styrene sheets and then glued it over the styrene. The plastic sheets I had couldn’t cover the complete height, so I had to glue two together, which did result in some uneven bowing on one side 
Turns out making a box, and making it nice and smooth and even is pretty tricky! LOL.
I made sure I could take out the foam core, and that’s what will hold my LED lights. I attached some sprue scraps to form attachment support so it would mount to the bottom section.
Now I’m trying to add some detail with bits of stone and foam and then modeling paste.
Not sure how this is going to turn out, this is my first time doing something like this. The modeling paste goes quick! And it’s $17 a jar!
Styrofoam is difficult to work with. You’ve done a superb job! Can’t wait to see it finished.
Gary
Thank you! I really don’t know what the hell I’m doing here, completely winging it.
Cool idea…
Yeah looks neat to me!
I remember one of the issues with the monolith in the movie is they had to keep cleaning the darn thing so you couldn’t see any fingerprints during the close-up filming.
That pretty much sums up my thoughts at the start of every build, and yet I still finish each with a smile on my face. [:D]
A little more progress on the astronaut
first time painting a face at this scale, damn it’s tricky!
Great job! The face looks fantastic!
Finally some more progress, kind of got bummed during the holidays, and lost interest.
So I realized that there’s a lot of detail that the Revell kit misses out on, decided to add the right number of hoses/cables, because, why not?
I scratch built the little piece with bits of left over or sprues that I sanded down.
Here’s where they all go
Testing the fit
Various “hoses” made from cut up gloves
Primed all the parts
Painting
A layer of Model Master aluminum, then tamiya clear Red and Blue.
Next got the lighting for the Monolith wired up
Powered on, arduino controlled, but will work out the flicker pattern later on.
Then realized the astronaut was wearing a watch! So obviously we need one too!
Primed
Painting in progress
Made a custom decal for it
Made my first decal today, but it didn’t go so hot, used Tamiya cleay acrylic to cover the printed decal paper. I’m guessing I need to try something else. And don’t use Tamiya mark fit solution, that seemed to mess things up.
Painted the boots and gloves
Started putting in the hose connectors
test fitting with hoses (some of the paint came off when I pulled off the masking tape )
I am aware that the connector positions are pretty far off, part of the problem is that the one hose that Revell gives you with the model is positioned way too far off to the side, so to keep things symetrical, and to reuse the hole, I put the others off to the side. Also the weird rectangular cover/pocket/doohicky that Revell molded right in the abdominal region isn’t even in the real suit! And it means you can’t really position anything there. I guess if I had planned ahead more I could have sanded some of that away? Not sure if the plastic is thick enough for that? I suppose you could always put something on the other side to support it? Oh well, next time!
Aw krap, somehow I missed your post!
Great job on the astronaut, he looks really good! [Y]
Sorry to hear about the masking tape, I hate it when it pulls up paint and I have to repaint stuff.
